In the Moonlight
by Stars in Bloom
Summary: Sora can’t sleep, so he goes out for a walk around the Pride Lands Oasis and runs into the last person he’d expected to meet in the quiet of the jungle. oneshot, Riku/Sora, lion!fluff


AN: randomly found on an old journal of mine xD was for a challenge I never got around to completing -.-

**Rating** PG-10+ for lions being affectionate? .;;

**Warnings** Slight Spoilers for the places of Kingdom Hearts 2, lion!love

**Disclaimer** I don't own Kingdom Hearts… if I did, it probably wouldn't be for children anymore…

**In the Moonlight**

It was night in the Pride Lands, and as soon as the sun set over the oasis and the moon started glowing in the velvet curtain it hung from, everything seemed to change. The noises of birds singing and animals rustling in the underbrush changed to a silence broken only by the babbling of the brook, the gentle roar of a far off waterfall, and the chirping of crickets singing to each other in the darkness. After the noise of Port Royal, the constant business of both Queen' Minnie's Castle and the Emperor's Palace, and the constant murmur of voices in Halloween Town, Sora found it almost impossible to sleep in the serenity of the forest. There had been so much going on lately, so many Heartless to kill and so many worlds to restore peace to, that a single day's break was almost even worse than the strange, beautiful peace surrounding him. Of course, Donald and Goofy didn't seem affected by it at all, judging by how much they were snoring away, so Sora decided to try and walk off his nerves.

He snuck through the thick jungle like a natural born predator, keeping low to the ground and slinking under the underbrush, avoiding dry leaves and twigs as he went, blue eyes shining in the light of the moon as he followed his nose around the oasis jungle, switching the scents he followed whenever he grew near his destination.

Being a lion was, to Sora, the best thing that had happened to him on his journey so far. There was just a sense of power that came with the small, lithe body with its powerful front paws and sharp teeth that Sora just thrived in. The enhances to his senses made everything stand out, made him notice even the slightest change in the forest. He could smell when a hunting panther made a kill in the night, he could scent where a Heartless had been before vanishing into the darkness again, and he could almost hear the monkeys cackling down at him in the trees. It was amazing, and Sora loved every minute of it.

So it startled the human when something changed in the wind. He paused, lifting his nose to scent the air, eyes searching the dark and ears swiveling. The scent that assaulted him was familiar. It smelled of the sea, and salt, but there was something more to it. A smoky taste maybe… and a subtle underlying trace of fruit, but not a fruit that he had smelled on this world. There was something about it that made him feel… safe. At home, maybe.

He tasted the wind one more time before bounding off, following the trail of the scent, tail thrashing in curiosity and claws digging into the ground as he ran across the jungle, weaving around the trees and ignoring the distraction of would-be prey running from the bushes around him. This scent was more important than remaining undetected, at least for now. Twice his thundering through the forest caused Heartless to attack him, but they were easily dispatched with a few swings of his keyblade. A couple times the scent seemed to grow stronger, and when Sora paused and dropped to the ground, looking around him, he thought he saw a shimmer of white through the trees, and with that the chase was on again. Somewhere in his mind, Sora realized that it seemed whatever he was following was allowing him to catch up, but he didn't care. The scent was driving him crazy, and he had to find out just what it was!

Suddenly, the cover of trees stopped, and Sora found himself at the edge of a lake in a clearing much like the one where Donald and Goofy still slept in. The moon was reflected in the lake, disturbed only by the jumping of fish, and the forest stretched onward beneath the ridges of a nearby cliff, but Sora didn't see any of that. His eyes only saw the white lion standing in front of him.

The other animal was large, well, larger than him, and it had an adolescent's mane falling across his back. His frame was skinny, but Sora didn't doubt the power in the black claws currently digging into the ground in front of his paws. The other's muzzle was wrinkled slightly in the beginning of a growl, and hard, gold eyes seemed to glare at him with a wisdom he just didn't see from other animals in the oasis.

And yet, despite all the signs of hostility from the other lion in front of him, Sora couldn't help but feel his heartbeat speed up as his tail twitched in nervousness. Despite the fact that he was miles away from home, despite the fact that he was on another world, the other lion gave off a sense of recognition that Sora immediately placed.

He took a small, tentative step forward, lowering his head slightly as he watched the silver lion with wary eyes, not wanting it to shy away. He opened his mouth slowly, trying to calm his frantic breathing, and finally found the voice he hadn't known he'd lost.

"Riku?"

The silver lion's shoulders tensed up, and his eyes narrowed slightly, but after a moment the claws withdrew and, much to Sora's surprise, he started towards him at the same slow careful pace. The two circled each other for a moment, watching each other carefully, warily, Sora seeing Riku's mannerisms in the animal in front of him. There was that proud, graceful gate, the way the lion had his ears tilted forward in curiosity, the way his lips seemed to tweak upward at his muzzle slightly, and the way those golden eyes studied him… and seemed to know him. But... there was something about those eyes that made Sora wary. It was almost as if there was something alien there, something that wasn't his best friend but someone… something else, and if it had been familiar sea-foam green staring out at him instead of those cold, dark eyes, Sora would have pounced on the other lion a long time ago.

"Sora."

Sora froze, just noticing that the other lion had stopped circling in order to face him, something that almost resembled like a frown on the handsome muzzle. He could have sword his heart skipped a beat as the other lion stepped forward until they were shoulder to shoulder before leaning his head down, resting his chin between the young teen's shoulder blades. The familiar scent of the other lion made Sora dizzy, and his beating heart wasn't helping either. The weight, the warmth of this lion was just so familiar, so comforting, that Sora couldn't think straight, and could only form one word, one mantra that he repeated over and over again.

"Riku…"

The other lion shifted, rubbing his shoulder against the smaller brown one's affectionately, and Sora couldn't help but shiver pleasantly as a rough tongue placed a gentle lick on the fur between his shoulders. It was weird, finding an animal's touch pleasure filled, but the fact that it was Riku made things different. This wasn't an animal, this was his friend, and this was the one person in the world that he knew inside and out, who knew him inside and out, and that made everything okay.

"Riku…"

The head pulled back a little and Sora felt another lick at his shoulder before the head moved up, breath ghosting over his ear before another lick was placed there, and then on the side of his jaw before soft, silky fur rubbed against his own coarse fur affectionately. He found himself drowning in the golden eyes for a moment, searching for and finding specks of green hiding in those orbs, and he felt his heart leap into his throat.

"It really is you," he murmured happily, and kind of sleepily, moving slightly to but his head against the other lion's jaw lightly, feeling a deep purr emerging from his chest. "God its really you…"

"Yeah," Riku murmured, and Sora noticed that his voice was deeper, rougher than he remembered, and there was something about it that sent a shiver of fear down his back. He pulled back slightly, blue eyes searching the narrow face of the silver lion for an answer to a question even he didn't know. The other lion just stood there, staring unflinchingly back at Sora, not budging to his search, and not giving up any answers.

"Riku?" Sora murmured again, stepping forward warily, searching for the cause of the alarm that had suddenly gripped at his chest. Suddenly, it wasn't like he was looking at his friend anymore, and there was something sinisterly familiar about the person – animal – he was looking at, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"I'm sorry," the silver lion murmured, and Sora nearly collapsed in relief when he heard his friend's voice again, the faint rumble of someone else was gone. The other lion padded forward, brushing past Sora gently, letting their sides slide past each other as his tail curved under Sora's chin, teasing his fur lightly in an affectionate carress. Sora closed his eyes, feeling his friend's body so close to his, basking in the warmth and the knowledge that Riku was actually there, with him.

"But… I'm not Riku."

Sora's eyes snapped open as he whirled around, mind spinning and keyblade appearing between his teeth, but the lion was already stepping into a portal into the darkness, his silvery figure rippling and then bursting into a thousand pieces as the animal body went through the portal, and in the distance a human figure appeared, hooded and mysterious. Sora's breath caught as the figure turned around, and he stared into those sad gold and green eyes gleaming in the dark, still retaining some of that animalistic glow, and then the portal closed.

The keyblade dropped from Sora's mouth to fall to the ground almost silently, and the young human's body soon followed it, falling to the ground with a near silent plop. If he could cry, he would have been, but as it was he could only live with the hole that had been torn in his heart and the ghost-like feel of that silvery fur and the lithe, beautiful body sliding against his own.


End file.
